Albert v. Embassy of Sound and MEDIA GmbH
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:21-cv-02729
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Albert v. Embassy of Sound and Media GmbH, Judge McMahon granted Albert’s request to voluntarily dismiss the case without prejudice and denied fee-free appeal status.
Marcel Albert’s case was closed after his complaint was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice. The defendants were no longer required to litigate this action under the closed docket, and Albert was denied permission to appeal without paying the required fees.
What happened
In Albert v. Embassy of Sound and Media GmbH, the court had asked Marcel Albert to explain why the case should not be transferred to another federal court. Albert responded that he was no longer indigent and wanted to end the case while preserving the ability to file it again.
The court granted Albert’s request under Rule 41(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. It voluntarily dismissed the complaint without prejudice and directed the clerk to close the case under that docket number.
Judge Colleen McMahon also ruled that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Albert permission to appeal without paying the filing costs.
The detailed version
- Albert v. Embassy of Sound and MEDIA GmbH · No. 1:21-cv-02729
- Colleen McMahon
- May 7, 2021
Background
The court had previously directed Marcel Albert to show why the case should not be transferred to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Albert then submitted a declaration stating that he was no longer indigent and requesting voluntary dismissal without prejudice.
Ruling
The court granted Albert’s request to withdraw the action under Rule 41(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The complaint was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice, meaning the order did not bar Albert from refiling the action. The clerk was directed to close the case under this docket number.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied Albert permission to appeal without paying the required fees. The opinion does not address the merits of the claims.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.